Re: [Marxism] The Politics of Larry Silverstein

[Marvin Gandall <marvgandall@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Tony Lawless writes:

"...it is more likely that CIA or Mossad operatives
penetrated Al Queda and thus learned of, and perhaps encouraged, the
possibility of a major attack
against the United States. The jihadists, as you call them, were real
enough, in my opinion.

The major evidence for the plausibility of this assumption is the August
memo entitled "bin Laden
Plans Major Attack on the US" or words akin. Someone in the US intelligence
service wrote this memo.
Where did the evidence for this warning come from? Why was the warning
apparently ignored?"
=========================
It seems to me the disputes on this extended thread basically turn on how
you define a conspiracy.

I don't think there's any doubt that countries itching for a war will jump
on any pretext to launch one. The most recent example was the Israeli
assault on Lebanon following Hezbollah's capture of two of its soldiers.
Mention has also been made of the attack on Pearl Harbour which gave the FDR
administration the pretext to mobilize the public for war against Japan. The
Bush administration capitalized on 9/11 to launch the ambitious "reordering"
of the oil-rich Middle East and Central Asian regions anticipated by Perle,
Woolsey, Cheney and others connected with the Project for a New American
Century.

But it's not a "conspiracy" as such for politicians to take advantage of an
opening, which is what happened in each of the above cases. A conspiracy, on
the other hand, would require the active involvement in the staging
of the event such as the Lincoln assassination or the Reichstag fire - or,
at least, failing to act on certain intelligence on when and where an attack
was coming.

Intelligence reports on the likelihood and possible targets and timing of
enemy attacks are constantly circulating between different branches and
departments at all levels of the political and security establishment in the 
US
and other countries. My sense is that the August memo which passed through
the White House was in the nature of that kind of report. I haven't seen any
evidence, though, that the Bush administration knew that Islamist terrorists
were planning to fly airliners into the WTC and government istallations in
Washington on the morning of September 11, much less that they were actively
involved in staging the attack.

I agree that it would be a bombshell if ever such evidence were unearthed,
but a conspiracy on such a vast scale directed at its own civilian
population would involve such risks of disclosure that I doubt any US
government would entertain the notion - especially given all the other means
at its disposal to pursue its aims.

That the Bush administration saw 9/11 as an opportunity to pursue its
strategic objectives I have no doubt. But I'm less interested, frankly, in
the pretext than what issued forth from it.






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